Billions of dollars in dirty money flowed through Danske Bank’s branch in Estonia, an explosive 2014 audit revealed. The original report had never been made public, until now.

Key Findings

• The audit report provides an inside look at tactics used to move money around the world without accounting for it — and shows how Danske turned a blind eye to them.
• Danske’s foreign clients frequently transferred huge sums around the world with only the vaguest of explanations.
• Bankers accepted documentation in languages they did not speak and failed to query absurd contracts, including one for a shipment of paint jars worth $1,000 each.
• Other clients listed addresses that did not exist, claimed to be sending massive quantities of goods to the middle of nowhere, and lent each other money on unclear pretexts.
• When one group of clients aroused suspicion for making huge transfers, the bank suggested to them that they leave, to avoid having to report them to authorities.

On a warm Monday morning in June 2014, two auditors from Estonia’s financial regulator stepped into the Tallinn office of Danske Bank, armed with a single piece of graph paper handwritten with the names of 18 of its clients, and demanded to see their records.

https://www.occrp.org/en/inves...

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